Confessions of a Teenage Watcher
by Alixtii
Summary: Dawn Summers is an American attending an Italian high school in Rome. Beatrice DeCosta is her Italian classmate. Their rôles as Watcher and Slayer will send them into a world of intrigue as the Council asserts its control over Cleveland's Hellmouth.
1. Uno

**Title:** Confessions of a Teenage Watcher

**Author:** Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krull V, TRL of the Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian

**Timeline:** Somewhere around "The Girl in Question." Spoilers for "Chosen."

**Rating:** PG

**Summary:** Dawn Summers is an American attending an Italian high school in Rome. Beatrice DeCosta is her Italian classmate. Their rôles as Watcher and Slayer will send them into a world of high intrigue as the Council tries to assert its control over the guardianship of the Cleveland Hellmouth.

**A/N: **Another story in the Watcher!Dawn mode, as always able to be read on its own.

**A/N2: **The Italian is courtesy of the web. If it's ungrammatical, who really cares? I don't translate (or rather untranslate) it on purpose.

**Disclaimer:** All original Buffy and Angel characters belong to Mutant Enemy, not me.

* * *

"E cosí, Dante segue Vergil profondo nel cuore di inferno," the teacher says. "Lí, impara del trucco teologico dell'universo. Come un pubblico moderno, è facile per noi ignorare che impara. Se lei non crede nell'inferno, i suoi pericoli non colpiscono la paura nel suo cuore. Ma che impara di sé? Della natura umana?" 

Dawn believes in hell, in the inferno. After all, her sister has been there. She raises her hand.

"Signorina Summers?"

"Debolezza," Dawn answers. "Corruzione. Vizio. I demoni che tormentano l'umanità."

The teacher nods and continues. "E ciò che circa...."

But the class is over, and the students do not hesitate to leave. Outside the classroom, Dawn sees the one person she least would have liked to run into in Italy. Because he isn't even supposed to be in Italy. He's supposed to be in England.

Roger Wyndham-Pryce.

"Oh, no," says Beatrice next to her, speaking English for Dawn's benefit. "What the hell is he doing here?"

"Wish I knew, Trish," Dawn says, catching herself only after she's said it and hoping that no Vengeance Demon is in hearing range. "But I have a feeling we are about to find out."

Beatrice is a Vampire Slayer. More than that, she's Dawn's Slayer. Because Dawn, who hasn't even finished high school, is a Watcher. This is because things being the way they are, the new Council will hire pretty much anyone who just happens to be fluent in proto-Sumerian. Not to mention Dawn has some major connections. Buffy practically insisted her younger sister be placed on the High Council along with Giles, to balance out the traditionalists Lydia Chalmers and Roger Wyndham-Pryce and keep them from having the majority and driving the policy. Part of a vision for a more Slayer-friendly Council. And what Buffy wants, Buffy gets: even Lydia and Wyndham-Pryce realize that they don't want to compete with the senior Slayer for influence over the Chosen. After all, the majority of trained Slayers are loyal to her, not the Council.

Dawn thinks Buffy is too quick to prejudge Lydia-after all, the Higher Powers intervened to save her from the Council explosion for some reason. Whereas she agrees with Buffy's preconceptions as regards Wyndham-Pryce perfectly. And so, apparently, does Beatrice.

The two girls make their way reluctantly towards Wyndham-Pryce, knowing that there isn't any way of getting out of this. "Roger," says Dawn as greeting, making sure to use his first name, asserting her equality with him.

"Miss Summers," he answers, and she can hear the damnèd British aloofness in his voice. He's treating her like a child.

Which of course she is.

"Miss DeCosta," he greats Beatrice.

"Mr. Wyndham-Pryce."

There is a beat as they all just look at each other, waiting. Finally, Dawn decides to break the silence. "Now that we've demonstrated we all know each other's names, is there a reason you chose to come here?"

"The Council has procured some intelligence we thought you would like to know."

"And that required a trip to Italy? I have a cell phone, an e-mail account. Hell, I can receive telepathic communiqués with minimal discomfort."

"Yeah, but last time they tried that you still keeled over in History class," points out Beatrice. Dawn glares at her.

"Perhaps we could . . . ?" Wyndham-Pryce makes an expansive gesture that reminds Dawn they are in public, and that talk of telepathic communication would raise more than one eyebrow should anyone overhear.

Dawn nods. "Beatrice and I were just going to train. Come along with, and we'll talk in my office."


	2. Due

**Title:** Confessions of a Teenage Watcher

**Author:** Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krull V, TRL of the Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian

**Timeline:** Somewhere around "The Girl in Question." Spoilers for "Chosen."

**Rating:** PG

**Summary:** Dawn Summers is an American attending an Italian high school in Rome. Beatrice DeCosta is her Italian classmate. Their rôles as Watcher and Slayer will send them into a world of high intrigue as the Council tries to assert its control over the guardianship of the Cleveland Hellmouth.

**Disclaimer:** All original Buffy and Angel characters belong to Mutant Enemy, not me.

* * *

Dawn's salary from the Council is £70,000 a year with benefits-not bad for a 17-year-old girl. Even better when Italy is on the euro, which is weaker than the pound. With that type of money, she can not only support her sister (she and Giles still haven't managed to convince Lydia of the need for stipends for the Slayers, although it remains at the top of their list of priorities, and they did manage some basic health insurance), but also buy herself some nice office furniture.

Like a nice, expensive wood desk, the best to be found in all of Rome. Dawn has a vision of one entering her office and being all intimidated by it-which might happen if it wasn't always covered in books and post-it notes, with only a small space cleared for her iBook.

But hey, she still has that really comfy leather desk chair. And that pen she bought on a whim for €300. (Buffy still doesn't know about that one, and Dawn's not about to tell her.) So Dawn sits down in her comfy chair, pulls out her expensive pen and looks at Beatrice and Wyndham-Pryce over an open copy of the Tradescan Codex. "So?"

"So," says Wyndam-Pryce, "I am sure you are aware that there are several modes of thought which exist right now within the Council. There are those of us who believe in the time-honoured methods by which the Council has always operated-"

"-and which got it blown up-"

"-and those who would recklessly discard them."

Dawn sighs. If she lets Wyndham-Pryce talk in circles, they'll be there all day. Best to get him to cut to the chase. "What has Giles done this time, Roger?"

"I understand, because of your involvement with the elder Miss Summers, both you and Rupert find yourselves sympathetic to the plight of the Slayers. To a degree, this is quite laudable."

"But you feel we let our feelings blind us? We have had this conversation before, Roger. Giles was having these arguments with the Council before I even existed."

Wyndham-Pryce nods. "Quite so. But as I said, we've received new intelligence."

Dawn gestures for him to continue.

"It's the Cleveland Hellmouth. We have reason to believe it's about to become active."

"You misunderstood me, Miss Summers. It isn't the Slayers' ability to avert the apocalypse that we doubt. It is just that, in these times of crisis, we do not feel that a formerly rogue Slayer who remains a fugitive from the law is the best one to represent the Council's interests in these matters."

"Wait-let me get a hold of this. You don't care if the world ends. Only if we lose power."

"Of course I care. I simply believe that concern is secondary."

"And didn't it ever occur to you that if the world does end, then all your power games will be nought? Don't even answer that: I'm fairly sure I don't want to know the answer."

"It is imperative that a member of the High Council visit Cleveland to oversee the crisis."

"Then go yourself."

"Do you really think that is advisable?"

Damn. He has her there. There's no way sending Wyndham-Pryce to oversee Faith could end in any way even remotely resembling "good."

"Giles?"

"He has other matters he must devote himself to."

"Look, as you well know, I'm not able to leave Italy right now. I have school. And since I don't see why we can't let our people already there take over the apocalypse..."

"Certainly you and Beatrice could take a week off."

"My legal guardian wouldn't allow it. Class is my first priority, and all that."

"And you always listen to your legal guardian."

"Of course."

"Such as when you neglected to push through the new initiatives she wanted?"

Dawn pauses for a moment, spins around in her desk chair, nods. "Okay, I listen to my legal guardian when it's for the best of the Council. Or when Buffy can find out about it."

Beatrice speaks up. "Term break is in a couple of weeks. We could go then."

Dawn shoots a look at her Slayer, but it's too late. The damage is done.

"That should be sufficient," says Roger Wyndham-Pryce as he rises to leave. "I'll let you two girls get to your training, then."

Once he is gone, Dawn turns to Beatrice. "What in the world were you thinking?" she asks.

Beatrice shrugs. "Well, it's Faith. The famous ex-rogue Slayer. This way we get to meet her."

Dawn looks at her Slayer, aghast. "That's what all that was about? Why couldn't I just call her and arrange for her to visit next weekend, instead of us having to do an important mission to Cleveland thing?"

Beatrice looks back at Dawn with awe. "You can do that?"

"Yes, I can. I've known her for years. She tried to kill my sister, after all, when she and Buffy were our age. Not to mention I'm High Council and could order her here. And don't look so god-damned impressed. When I tell you I can call Orlando Bloom and arrange for him to visit next weekend, then you can look impressed."

Beatrice smiles. "Can you?"

"I wish I could." She doesn't even care if a Vengeance Demon hears her say it.


	3. Tre

**Title:** Confessions of a Teenage Watcher

**Author:** Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krull V, TRL of the Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian

**Timeline:** Somewhere around "The Girl in Question." Spoilers for "Chosen."

**Rating:** PG

**Summary:** Dawn Summers is an American attending an Italian high school in Rome. Beatrice DeCosta is her Italian classmate. Their rôles as Watcher and Slayer will send them into a world of high intrigue as the Council tries to assert its control over the guardianship of the Cleveland Hellmouth.

**Disclaimer:** All original Buffy and Angel characters belong to Mutant Enemy, not me.

* * *

Dawn gets back to the apartment after taking Beatrice on patrol, about 3 a.m. Buffy is still awake.  "Where's the Immortal?" she asks.

"He just left," Buffy says with a sigh. Dawn doesn't blame her sister. The Immortal is hot.

"Andrew?"

"I'm not sure. I think he might actually be out on a date. How weird is that?"

"A sign of the apocalypse, no doubt."

"Could be."

"Is, actually. There's one going down in Cleveland. Beatrice and I are going to check up on it during term break."

"I thought you were staying here during break." Buffy's tone is mildly accusatory.

"That's what I thought, too. Apparently Beatrice was seized by the incredible urge to see Faith the Vampire Slayer in the flesh."

"No accounting for taste, apparently."

"Well, she's already met you. Unless your defintion of 'meeting' someone involves actually talking." Every time Beatrice comes in contact with Buffy, she becomes so starstruck she can barely carry out a conversation.

"This is what I don't get," says Dawn, plopping herself down on the couch. "It's not that the Council doesn't trust Faith and her Slayers to deal with the apocalypse. It's that they're afraid she'll deal with it too well."

"And decide that she doesn't need the Council again?"

"Exactly. But that's the thing: she _doesn't_ need the Council. She knows what she is doing, can handle this herself. But Wyndham-Pryce wants me to babysit her just to make sure she toes the line. Tell me how that makes the world any safer?"

Buffy smiles. "Not exactly the biggest fan ever of the Watcher's Council here, Dawn. But infrastructure is important. You know that we can't do this on our own anymore. It's moved beyond a bunch of teenagers fighting evil on a Hellmouth. Willow's spell saw to that."

"Sometimes I just wish-" This time, she catches herself. "It just frustrates me, you know."

"And a big 'amen' to that," Buffy agrees, sitting down next to her sister. "I miss the old days, too. Hell, I even miss Sunnydale."

Dawn nods, silently. After all, so many of their memories are buried there, deep within that crater. The Bronze. The Magic Box. 1630 Rivello Drive. The Sun Cinema. The mall. So many of their loved ones, friends and alies. Miss Calendar. Amanda. Anya. Spike. Tara. Their mother.

The two sisters sit next to each other on the couch, each silently reviewing how they had gotten to this place in their lives they never would have seen coming, and where they go from here. 


	4. Quattro

**Title:** Confessions of a Teenage Watcher

**Author:** Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krull V, TRL of the Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian

**Timeline:** Somewhere around "The Girl in Question." Spoilers for "Chosen."

**Rating:** PG

**Summary:** Dawn Summers is an American attending an Italian high school in Rome. Beatrice DeCosta is her Italian classmate. Their rôles as Watcher and Slayer will send them into a world of high intrigue as the Council tries to assert its control over the guardianship of the Cleveland Hellmouth.

**A/N: **Okay, so this is a really short chapter. So sue me.

**Disclaimer:** All original Buffy and Angel characters belong to Mutant Enemy, not me.

* * *

Beatrice won't stop talking on the plane ride to the States, so excited about finally getting to meet the famous Slayer, Faith (although she is in control enough not to mention the Slayer part in public). Half the time she speaks in English, the other half in Italian. Dawn does her best to zone out her charge's animated babblings, adding a "hmm" here and an "uh-huh" there without really listening. After all, it's an eight hour flight, and everyone else is sleeping. 

"Dawn, are you listening?"

"Uh-huh." 


	5. Cinque

**Title:** Confessions of a Teenage Watcher

**Author:** Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krull V, TRL of the Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian

**Timeline:** Somewhere around "The Girl in Question." Spoilers for "Chosen."

**Rating:** PG

**Summary:** Dawn Summers is an American attending an Italian high school in Rome. Beatrice DeCosta is her Italian classmate. Their rôles as Watcher and Slayer will send them into a world of high intrigue as the Council tries to assert its control over the guardianship of the Cleveland Hellmouth.

**A/N: **So this is all I've written so far. Don't expect any more from me soon. I'm on hiatus, remember? Of course, don't be surprised if more shows up soon. This "hiatus" has been a joke. If you're interested in reading more Watcher!Dawn while you are waiting, try out my "The Legacy of Stephen," "Watcher's Burden," or "Divine Interventions."

**Disclaimer:** All original Buffy and Angel characters belong to Mutant Enemy, not me.

* * *

Finally, the airplane lands in Cleveland. Dawn can't wait to get off.

They leave customs without declaring anything, since they FedExed their weapons to Faith before leaving. All that's in their bags is their clothes, along with a couple stakes and a few bottles of holy water. Neither wood nor water is prescribed.

Faith and a man dressed as a priest (for an awful moment, Dawn flashbacks to Caleb) are waiting at the gate. Beatrice just looks at Faith with her mouth open. "You're . . . Faith," she finally manages.

"So I am," Faith says, bemused. She turns to Dawn. "So how are things in Italy? B' still with that new beau of hers?"

"The Immortal? Yeah."

"He's really hot," Beatrice chimes in.

Faith nods, thoughtfully. "Yeah. So I've heard."

"So, who's the priest?" Dawn asks.

He extends his hand to her. "I'm Father Marcus," he answers. "Headmaster at St. Clare's." Dawn takes the hand, shakes it.

Beatrice looks confused. "Who?"

"St. Clare's," Dawn repeats. "It's a school. You'll see." She turns back to the priest. "It's nice to finally meet you, Father," she says, although she still has to fight to keep the image of Caleb out of her mind.

"Likewise, Miss Summers," the priest answers, and it's with real welcome.

Dawn towards to Faith, and the two women embrace. "It's good to see you again."

"Same here. Your big sis behaving?"

Dawn just squeezes the Slayer harder. "Most of the time."

The two break and Faith and Fr. Marcus help Dawn and Beatrice with their luggage. "You tell me if she becomes a problem, so I can go over there and set things straight, okay?"

Dawn just smiles. "I'll do that, Faith."

They walk out of the airport into the parking lot, throw their suitcases into the back of a large van. "One of the advantages of running a high school," Fr. Marcus points out.

All through the ride from the airport, Beatrice just sits with her mouth open, staring at Faith, a look of wonder on the Italian girl's face. 


	6. Sei

  

**Title:** Confessions of a Teenage Watcher

**Author:** Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krull V, TRL of the Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian

**Timeline:** Somewhere around "The Girl in Question." Spoilers for "Chosen."

**Rating:** PG

**Summary:** Dawn Summers is an American attending an Italian high school in Rome. Beatrice DeCosta is her Italian classmate. Their rôles as Watcher and Slayer will send them into a world of high intrigue as the Council tries to assert its control over the guardianship of the Cleveland Hellmouth.

**Archive/Distribution: **Just tell me about it.

**Reviews/Feedback: **It's what makes this entire system work, nyet? Means of exchange and all that.

**A/N: **This chapter draws on a lot of continuity from my "The Academy," a fic set in Cleveland paralleling _Buffy _season 7. And the part about Drusilla and Christmas refers to the events in my "Windows of My Soul." Not that you need to have read any of those to understand any of this.

**Disclaimer:** All original Buffy and Angel characters belong to Mutant Enemy, not me.

* * *

Dawn and Beatrice make their way across the St. Clare's campus. "Look at those uniforms," Beatrice says, looking at a group of girls walking by.

Dawn shrugs. "Your typical Catholic schoolgirl outfit. A little slutty, maybe, but nothing that weird."

"But look at those blazers." Indeed, the red blazers the girls wore was the most noticeable aspect of the uniforms. "You'd be able to spot them a mile away."

"I think that's the point," Dawn said.

"What do you mean?"

"Look at them. Everyone of them is wearing a cross around her neck."

"So? It's a Catholic school."

"But _everybody_? There's not a Jew, a pagan, an atheist in sight? I find that hard to believe."

"So?"

"So that means the Jews, the pagans, and the atheists are wearing crosses too. Why? Because there are more important things to worry about on a Hellmouth than civil liberties."

Beatrice looks at her Watcher, understanding finally dawning. "You mean they all know."

Dawn nods. "And the red blazers are a huge 'don't bite me' sign, signifying they are _not _easy meals, that they know what's up and can protect themselves. It's like the little security system stickers people put on their houses: vamps see the blazers, and move on."

"Is this what school was like in Sunnydale?"

Dawn snorts. "Are you kidding me? In Sunnydale we had this whole denial-and-rationalization-reflex-thing going on. Until the last days of Sunnydale High—the first one, that is. You know the story?"

Beatrice nods. "Your sister and her colleagues enlisted the entire graduating class to present a unified front against the ascending Mayor. I do read the required history texts you assign me, Dawn."

"Buffy never did. But the point is, this makes more sense. The whole denial thing only got people killed in Sunnydale. Everyone was left looking out for themselves, especially those who had the most ability to protect others: the Wiccans. Did you know that our mom—"

"—spearheaded an effort to eliminate the occult from SHS? She was under the influence of a demon. I'm not your sister. I do my homework."

Dawn smiled. "Okay, I get it. Not Buffy. Model student. Like Kendra." Dawn sees Beatrice's look and hastily emends, "Except for being killed by Drusilla a year after being called. Because we're training you better than that. The new school Giles method of Watching, instead of the old Quentin Travers method. If Roger Wyndham-Pryce would stop being so much of a_ figlio di puttana_. And besides, we don't even know where Drusilla is. We haven't heard any word of her since Christmas."

"Um, Dawn?"

"Sorry. It's just, this makes so much more sense. They should have given us red blazers in Sunnydale."

"By themselves, they'd only be snack food advertising. What you want is for society to accept the fact that vamps exist and mobilize to solve the problem. Which I have to say, I don't see happening."

Dawn sighed, agreeing. "Me neither. But a girl can dream, right? And work to make the dream a reality. I _am _High Council."

"I'm not sure what even the High Council can do to solve this problem."

And that's the problem. When it comes to the things that count, Dawn still has no power whatsoever. 


	7. Sette

**Title:** Confessions of a Teenage Watcher

**Author:** Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krull V, TRL of the Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian

**Timeline:** Somewhere around "The Girl in Question." Spoilers for "Chosen."

**Rating:** PG

**Summary:** Dawn Summers is an American attending an Italian high school in Rome. Beatrice DeCosta is her Italian classmate. Their rôles as Watcher and Slayer will send them into a world of high intrigue as the Council tries to assert its control over the guardianship of the Cleveland Hellmouth.

**Archive/Distribution: **Just tell me about it.

**Reviews/Feedback: **It's what makes this entire system work, nyet? Means of exchange and all that.

**Disclaimer:** All original Buffy and Angel characters belong to Mutant Enemy, not me. When I said "sue me" in the Author's Notes a while back, I was joking. Just want to make that clear.

* * *

Dawn and Beatrice sit in Fr. Marcus' office. He sits behind his desk; Faith paces next to it, spinning a basketball. Standing near Faith is another girl, about sixteen.

"So, Miss Summers," Fr. Marcus says, "what do you think of our school?"

"Have to say, Father, I'm impressed," Dawn admits. "Certainly beats Sunnydale's schools hands-down."

Fr. Marcus nods. "Wyndham-Pryce has acted as my contact in the Council for several years. However, due to Faith's coming to reside in Cleveland, he felt that perhaps it would be best if someone else were to take on that duty."

"Someone who didn't order my death, maybe."

Dawn felt her eyes go wide. Faith _knew_ about that? She made a mental note to make sure that Wyndham-Pryce kept from coming anywhere remotely near Ohio. Heck, it might be best if he just stayed out of the States altogether.

"Someone you could trust, certainly," Fr. Marcus interjected, recognizing the dangerous topic for what it was. "And as I, too, have had my disagreements with Mr. Wyndham-Pryce in the past, I think we will all find this a satisfactory arrangement."

He gestures to the teenage girl next to Faith. "This is Kimberly Mason, one of our best students here at St. Clare's. And more to the point, a Slayer."

"Miss Summers," the girl says, respectfully. She holds her head high, with none of Beatrice's starstruck shyness.

"You've been training her?" Dawn asks Faith.

Faith nods. "Me and the Padre both. He knows some nasty tricks for a priest."

"I've been training potential Slayers for a long time," Fr. Marcus says. "Not to mention running a school on top of a Hellmouth."

"They know what they're doing here, Dawn," Faith chimed in helpfully. "They've got systems and all. Did Willow ever tell you about that spell Wes and company did on the Hyperion, to disallow demon violence? They got a version of that here."

"Saved my life, probably," adds Kimberly. "The Bringers could break onto campus, but they couldn't lift a finger against us without being thrown back as if they were hit by a freight train."

"We could have used that," Dawn thinks out loud to herself. "Would have made our lives a lot easier."


	8. Otto

**Title:** Confessions of a Teenage Watcher 

**Author:** Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krull V, TRL of the Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian

**Timeline:** Somewhere around "The Girl in Question." Spoilers for "Chosen."

**Rating:** PG

**Summary:** Dawn Summers is an American attending an Italian high school in Rome. Beatrice DeCosta is her Italian classmate. Their rôles as Watcher and Slayer will send them into a world of high intrigue as the Council tries to assert its control over the guardianship of the Cleveland Hellmouth.

**Archive/Distribution: **Just tell me about it.

**Reviews/Feedback: **It's what makes this entire system work, nyet? Means of exchange and all that. In other words: please!

**Disclaimer:** All original Buffy and Angel characters belong to Mutant Enemy, not me.

* * *

The meeting over, the Slayers leave: Faith, Beatrice, Kimberly. "Could you stay one moment, Miss Summers?" Fr. Marcus asks.

"Of course," says Dawn, as she sits back down. "Is there a problem?" She looks up to make eye contact with the priest, but she can't do it.

"I was just going to ask you that, Miss Summers. You kept looking away from me the entire meeting."

"It's not you, Father, it's just that once there was someone in a clerical collar who—" She can't even say it.

Wordlessly, Fr. Marcus opens a drawer in his desk and removes a picture frame. He hands it to Dawn.

Dawn looks down to it. On the right is Fr. Marcus, in his collar, a smile on his face. Standing left to him is another man in a collar. A tall, sandy blonde man whom Dawn recognizes instantly. Caleb.

"You knew him?"

Fr. Marcus nods, takes the picture back and returns it to his desk. "We went to seminary together. We studied together, we both became interested in the occult. We found out the Church knew plenty of things they hadn't put in the Catechism."

"And?"

"And I came to Cleveland and founded a school. Caleb allied with the First Evil and tried to end the world before he was sliced in half by your sister. End of story."

"He just . . . turned evil?" The incredulity in Dawn's voice is clear.

"Of course not, Miss Summers. It's always more complicated than that." His voice is low.


	9. Nove

**Title:** Confessions of a Teenage Watcher 

**Author:** Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krull V, TRL of the Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian

**Timeline:** Somewhere around "The Girl in Question." Spoilers for "Chosen."

**Rating:** PG

**Summary:** Dawn Summers is an American attending an Italian high school in Rome. Beatrice DeCosta is her Italian classmate. Their rôles as Watcher and Slayer will send them into a world of high intrigue as the Council tries to assert its control over the guardianship of the Cleveland Hellmouth.

**A/N: **About Dawn's salary: after the exchange rate, it's about $130,000, which I don't think is completely unreasonable considering she pretty much has Quentin Travers' old job. Giles would probably have made something like £45,000 a year (since he had an active Slayer as his charge), and your average Watcher would have made maybe £30,000. Also remember these salaries are pound denominated--i.e. keyed to the cost of living in Britain rather than America. So if Dawn were living in London, her £70,000 salary would buy her what a $70,000 salary would buy her in the States (still a decent salary in any case!). A double cheesburger in the States is $.99; in London, it's £.99. Only she's living in Italy, which is on the euro, so her salary has a bit more oomph--roughly about €100,000.

**Disclaimer:** All original Buffy and Angel characters belong to Mutant Enemy, not me.

* * *

Dawn finds Faith in the gym, practicing with Beatrice and Kimberly. Dawn just watches (that's her job, right?) as the three train. Faith glances over at the Watcher, then back at the two junior Slayers. "You see what I see?"

Dawn nods. "They're holding their arms too close to their body."

Beatrice looks at her Watcher with surprise. "But this is how you hold your arms when you fight, Dawn. A strong defense."

"And she damned better hold her arms that way if she doesn't want to be covered in bruises,"Faith says."It's good technique: guard your face with the one hand, block any blows to the chest with the other. There's just one thing: she's not a Slayer. You two are. You can move faster, have quicker reflexes. You should be able to block a blow no matter where your hands are when it starts coming."

She looks at Dawn. "You able to join in?"

"Just give me a moment." Dawn empties her hands, then removes her jewellery. "I'm not exactly dressed to train."

"Don't give me that. How many times has your sister gone slaying in a miniskirt?"

"And since when was Buffy the examplar for good ideas?"

Faith considers. "Touché. Now just stand in front of me and hit me. Punch, chop, whatever. Don't give me any warning; just do it as fast as you can."

She stands with her hands behind her back, parade rest. Dawn goes for the abdomen with her right fist, followed by a left chop to the temple. Moving her left hand only once Dawn begun to move, Faith quickly deflects both attacks. "See?" she asks Beatrice and Kimberly. "Now you try."

Beatrice is able to block most of Dawn's attacks, but a few got through; Kimberly, on the other hand, manages to block almost all of them. Faith and Fr. Marcus really have the junior Slayer trained well, and it occurs to Dawn that she could use picking up a few tricks from their book. Dawn would never have thought of this particular exercise, for example. And how weird is that—going to Faith for advice on being a Watcher?

After a while, Faith nods. "Okay, girls. You can hit the showers." The two girls let out a sigh of relief and quickly make their way out of gymnasium, leaving Faith and Dawn alone.

"They're good girls," Faith says. "They'll go far if they get the chance." If they don't die an early death, Faith means, but Dawn is grateful that she doesn't say it.

"You work well with them," Dawn says. "They look up to you." It's only a piece of the truth, that Faith is a damned good Slayer, but she knows it's as much as Faith will let her say without raising some serious psychological defences.

"Yeah," agrees Faith, looking absently at the door leading to the showers. "Who'd have thought I'd end up as a rôle model?" She's doubting herself, Dawn realizes. Then again, ever since her coma Faith has been the mistress of doubt.

"You always were a rôle model," says Dawn. "I practically idolized you as a child. There's a natural "but" at the end of that sentence, so as far as reassurance goes it's not all that helpful but Dawn knows that Faith needs to hear the bad along with the good. That's the only way the Slayer will trust what Dawn has to say, and accept the good as being true along with the bad.

"And then I go and try and kill your sister," Faith points out. "Sorry about that. But what if something like that happens here? What if I end up failing Kim the way I did you?"

And there it is: the fear of failure she would never have admitted if Dawn hadn't told it like it was. Only the thing is, the fact that she has the fear means that this time, she won't fail. "It won't happen," Dawn assures her. "You've lived and you've learned. This time around you realize the stakes. I've seen the way you work with Kim, and I'll tell you this: if there's any one thing that convinces me you're reformed, that's it. You might doubt yourself, but you'll keep on going for her sake. Which is exactly what I'll put in my report." Dawn picks up her clipboard and makes an exaggerated show of writing down notes.

Faith nods. "Yeah. She keeps me sane sometimes. If you had asked me, I never would have been able to see myself ending up here. I mean, I was never one for religion, and here I am working for a Catholic priest. But the thing is, I couldn't think of a place I'd rather be."

Dawn nods. She doesn't think anyone expected what happened to happen. (Willow in Brazil? Xander in Africa?) She certainly didn't. High Watcher? £70,000 a year? Not a chance.

She only hopes some day she'll be as happy with it as Faith seems to be with her fate.


End file.
